Automobile door latch mechanism



y 1949. w. J. TIERNEY ETAL 2,475,333

AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH MECHANISM Filed NOV. 9, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet l mt'zezas flap J y 19, 1949. w. J. TIERNEY ET AL 2,476,333

AUTOMQBILE DOOR LATCH MECHANISM Filed Nov. 9, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 77 Y I m Z 7/. 20616 armon/ y 1949- w. J. TIERNEY ETAL 2,476,333

AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH MECHANISM Filed Nov. 9, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet. 3

Patented July 1%, 1949 AUTOMOBILE noon LATCH MECHANISM William J. Tierney and Cletus L. Harmon, Rockford, 111., assignors to The Atwood Vacuum Machine Company, Rockford, 111., a copartnership composed of Seth B. Atwood and James T.

Atwood Application November 9, 1944, Serial No. 562,604

9 Claims. (Cl. 292-123) This invention relates to a new and improved automobile door latch mechanism.

In the later designs of automobile doors, the trend has been to widen the glass, thereby reducing the space next to' the glass run within which the door latch mechanism can be installed. The square shaft turned by the handle is accordingly crowded over close to the edge of the door, and the same is true of the shaft connected with the door lock. The rotary type latch bolt disclosed in the Van Voorhees Patent 2,143,965, and others, arranged to operate in a substantially vertical plane between the edge of the door and the pillar, is particularly well adapted to these conditions; whereas a horizontally reciprocated bolt of the conventional type is not suitable. The rotary type bolt provides ample travel in locking and unlocking without interference with the adjacent channel for the glass run and offers the further advantage that the opening up of the joint between the door and pillar, due to body distortion, does not aifect the operation of this type of latch, whereas it presents serious difiiculties with the reciprocable type bolt. It is, therefore, one important object of our invention to provide a door latch mechanism incorporating the rotary type latch bolt, the actuating and locking mechanism cooperating therewith being all compactly arranged in a plane in transverse relation to the bolt alongside the inner wall of the door, and designed for operation by the door handle and door lock shafts extending thereto in the small space left alongside the glass run.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanyin'g drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is an edge view of the dovetail portion of an automobile door embodying a latch mechanism made in accordance with our invention and showing our improved door handle connected to the latch mechanism in the novel manner of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the free edge portion of the door andthe adjacent pillar, showing the arrangement of the door latch mechaism with respect to the handle shaft and the channel for the glass run;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section on the broken line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side View of the latch mechanism looking toward the dovetail, and

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional detail through the dovetail in the plane of the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

The same reference numerals are. applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring first to Fig. 5, the reference numeral 5 designates the spring pressed rotary latch bolt pivotally mounted, as at 6, on a horizontal axis for swinging movement in a vertical plane between the edge of the door 1 (Fig. 1) and the pillar 8. The housing 8 is suitably secured to the plate ill by its flange portion II and the two parts thus secured together are adapted to be riveted or otherwise suitably secured to the edge wall of the door 'I. The dovetail shaped housing 9 projects through an opening in the edge wall of the door and is arranged to have wedging engagement between a striker plate 12 and a bumper [3 carried on a mounting plate It suitablyv secured to the door pillar 8. The striker plate i2 is rigidly secured to the mounting plate I4 by rivets l5 and has two teeth It and II for cooperating with the tooth I. of the latch bolt 5, that projects through an opening I! provided in the bottom wall of the dovetail shaped housing 9. When the door is closed properly, the tooth I8 is engaged under spring pressure behind the tooth IS, the tooth I'I being merely a safety catch as is well known in this art. The bumper l3 consists of a sheet metal wedge shaped housing 20 fastened to the mounting plate I 4 with freedom for limited-up and down, as well as in and out, movement parallel to said plate under the restraint of a rubber block with which the housing is filled, the rubber block having a tight fit in the housing and around the fastening stud for this purpose. It is obvious, therefore, t at when the door is closed the dovetail shaped housing 9 entering between the striker plate l2 and bumper l3, in the manner of the conventional dovetails of automobile doors, will accurately locate the latch bolt 5 with reference to the striker plate I2 and, therefore, insure positive latching of the door. The wedglng action obtained, particularly with the yielding of the rubber block in the bumper It, eliminates likelihood of the door rattlingwhen the car is in motion, and also insures keeping the tooth l8 properly engaged behind the tooth ii at all times. It should also be clear that regardless of the usual amount of distortion and consequent opening of the gap between the door and pillar, the tooth I8 always maintains the same length of engagement in a vertical direction with the tooth l6 so that there is no danger of accidental opening 3 obviously insures uniformly better results than would be obtainable otherwise. The latch bolt 5 is urged toward engagement with the striker plate by means of a spiral spring 2|, the inner end of which is carried on a stud 22 rigid with the dovetail shaped housing 3, the active outer end of the spring bearing on top of the outer end of the latch bolt, as clearly appears in Fig. 5. This much of the present structure is disclosed in the Van Voorhees Patent 2,329,232 and no inven tion is, therefore, claimed in these details, excepting insofar as they form a part of the novel structure of our invention.

The flange II is extended to provide a back plate 23 bent nearly at right angles to the flange, as indicated at 24, on which the actuating and locking mechanism now to be described is mounted. The latch bolt 5 has a pin projection 25 on the outer end thereof which projects laterally through an opening 26 provided in the back plate l9 for operation by a lug 21 on the rotary dog 28 that is pivoted, as indicated at 29, on the back plate 23. The dog 28 has another lug 39 which is engaged by a lug 3| on a slide 32 that is slidable vertically with respect to the dog 28 and its pivot stud 29 within the limits of the elongated slot 33 provided in said slide. A lateral projection 34 on the lug 38 is movable in an arcuate slot 35 in the back plate 23 and has the active end 36 of a spiral spring-31 engaging the same and tending normally to return the dog 28 to the retracted position shown in Fig. 3. The other end of the spring 3'! is fixed to the back plate 23, as at 38. A cam 39. mounted for rotation with respect to the back plate 23 on an inclined axis a-b at an angle of approximately 65 to the vertical plane of the back plate 23, as indicated in Fig. 4, between the back plate 23 and a cover plate 49 that is fixed to the back plate, as indicated at 4!, slidably engages a lug 42 formed on the end of the slide 32 to communicate reciprocatory movement to the slide when the handle 43 of the door is turned. The latter has a square shaft 44 extending therefrom and entered in a square hole 45 provided therefor in the cam 39. It should now be clear that when the door is closed, the latch 5 can be released by rotary movement of the roll-back dog 28, which movement is produced by reciprocatory movement of the slide 32, which in turn is produced by oscillatory or rotary movement of the cam- 39 turning with the handle 43. The spring 31 resists this movement and restores the parts to their normal positions after such an operation. In Fig. 3 there is indicated a dotted position of the pin projection 25 which is the released position, the full line position being the normal or locked position of the latch bolt. The slide 32 is guided in its reciprocatory movement at one end by the stud 29 working in the slot 33, and at the other end is guided between lugs struck up from the back plate 23, one of these being indicated at 46.

The latch bolt 5 can also be retracted by reciprocatory movement of the remote control link 43, the outer end of which has an elongated slot 49 provided therein for detachably pivotally connecting the link to the stud 59 that projects from a third lug 5| provided on the roll-back dog 29. The link 48 is operable at its other end by a lever 52 having a hub portion 53 rotatable in a bracket 54 suitably secured to the door. The hub 53 has a square stem 55 projecting therefrom for connection to the inside handle (not shown). A leaf spring 56 suitably fixed at one end to the bracket 54 and slidable at its free end on the periphery 51 of the pivoted end of the lever 52, is arranged to engage in a notch 58 so as to hold the lever 52 and the inside handle with it normally in the neutral position shown. When the inside handle is turned to turn the stem 55 in a clockwise direction, the latch bolt 5 is retracted by reason of the clockwise turning of the rollack o 28, and, of course, when theinside handle is released after such an operation, the spring 31 serves to return the handle to the neutral position in returning the roll-back dog 28 to the normal position shown in Fig. 3. On the other hand, when the door is opened by turning the outside handle 43. it is obvious that the inside handle remains stationary, because the stud 59. zisnder those conditions, moves idly in the slot An inside push button (not shown) has an operating connection through a link 69 with a second slide 69 that is slotted like the slide 32, as indicated at 5|, in register with the slot 33 for movement relative to the pivot stud 29 as a guide, and has two lugs 6| and 92 on it, the lug 6! for preventing clockwise rotation of the roll-back dog 28 by blocking the lug 5| thereof, and the lug 62 serving as a kick-back means for returning the slide 69 to retracted position when the door has been locked from the inside by operation of the push button, the lug 62 in such operation being moved downwardly to a position directly over the pin projection 25 of the latch bolt so as to be moved upwardly by said pin projection when the door is slammed and the toothed end It of the latch bolt rides up over the striker l2. A

. leaf spring 63, which is secured intermediate its ends to the cover plate 49, as indicated at 64, has one arched end 65 slidably engaging the edge of the slide 69 to frictionally resist movement of the slide, and the other end 66 also arched and disposed in the path of the shoulder 61 on the slide to further insure keeping the slide normally in raised retracted position until it is moved downwardly positively by means of the push button. The end 66 is deflected enough when the slide 69 is pushed down to door-locking position with the push button to insure its staying in that position until it is returned either by pulling up on the push button or by slamming the door, as the case may be. The slide 69 is guided at its lower end by the stud 29 in the slot 51' and is guided at its upper end in the cover plate 49, the upper end portion 69 of the slide being of reduced width, as shown, to work in a narrow guideway alongside the upper end 42 of the slide 32, this narrow end portion forming a sort of connecting link between the link 59 and the main body portion of the slide 69.

Another cover plate 69 extends over the rollback dog 28 and the slotted portions of the slides 32 and 69, and is secured at its upper end by the riveting of the end of the pivot stud 29, and is anchored at its lower end to the back plate 23, as indicated at 19. The lower or tail end portion H of the slide 32 is movable downwardly under the cover plate 69 when the door handle 43 is turned to open the door, but such movement may be blocked by a. locking cam 12, the hub portion 13 of which is mounted in a bearing opening 14 in the cover plate 69 and has a square center hole to receive the square shaft 15 adapted to be turned with a key from the outside of the door when the proper key is entered in the door lock (not shown). In locking the door from the outside, the shaft 14 is turned in a clockwise direction through so as to bring the cam 12 into aevaees engagement with the opposite side of the stop lug 16 that is struck up from the back plate 23. The cam 12 in the position blocks downward movement of the slide 82 by abutment with the end Portion H thereof, and under these conditions the handle 48 can not be turned, and inasmuch as the operation of the roll-back dog 28 depends upon reciprocation of the slide 32 by the cam 39 turning with the door handle, it is obvious that the latch bolt 5 can not be retracted until the door is unlocked by return of the cam 12 to the position shown in Fig. 3. There is, however,

nothing to interfere with opening of the door from the inside when the door has been locked from the outside, inasmuch as the dog 28 is still freely rotatable by reciprocatory movement of the link 48.

Attention is now called'to the dotted line showing of the channel 11 for the window pane 18, in Fig. 3, which emphasizes the fact that the shaft 44 turned with the door handle 43, and the shaft 15 arranged to be turned with the key of the door lock, are located close to the edge of the door in the confined space between the edge of the door and the channel 11, whereas the roll-back dog 28 is disposed for pivotal movement about the stud 29 farther removed from the edge of the door. In other words, the limited space next to the channel 11 does not impose any limitation upon the design and construction of that portion of the present door latch mechanism cooperating with the pin projection on the latch bolt 5, the dog 28 being designed to accommodate the throw of the pin 25 without respect to the limited space i left between the channel I1 and the edge of the door. This is, of course, by virtue of the fact that the dog 28 is located adjacent the inner face of the door with the slides 32 and 60 that cooperate with it, the slide 32 being operatively associated at one end with the cam 39 operated by the door handle 43, and at the other end with the cam 12 operated by the shaft 15.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the purpose for inclining the door handle shaft axis af-b is clearly illustrated in this view, looking at the edge of the door at the dovetail portion. The bulged waistline portion of the car body and door is designated by the reference numeral 19. If the handle 43 were provided at the usual elevation,

that is to say, at the waistline, instead of where it is shown in this view, slightly below the window portion 80, it would project to an objectionable extent, and, under the circumstances, it would probably be necessaray to recess the handle if the standard elevation of the handle, namely at the waistline, was desired. On the other hand, it will at once be apparent from Fig. 1 that by shifting the position of the handle 43 upwardly to the extent shown, the extent of projection of the handle is no longer objectionable at all, in asmuch as the handle in this position projects very little, if any, beyond the bulged waistline portion. Bearing in mind the fact that the door and side walls of the body in a streamlined car design, such as is being considered here, are inclined upwardly and inwarly approximately to the extent shown, namely 0 or more from a vertical, it is apparent that the cor handle, when located as herein disclosed'is actually well inside a vertical plane located next to the outside of the bulged waistline portion of the body. This new location, furthermore, has been found to give much easier door opening, due apparently to the fact that the operator can more advantageously pull downwardly and outwardly on the handle of this design than he can push downwardly on the conventional rotary type handle located in the conventional way at the waistline of the body. In other words, the present rotary type handle, by reason of the angularity of its operating axis a-b, is a semi-pull type handle and derives some of the advantages of that type of handle insofar as easier opening of the door is concerned. The angularity of the handle shaft axis a-b gives the handle the desired operating clearance with respect to the bulged waistline portion 18. as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the dotted line position being that corresponding to the retracted position of the latch bolt 5. The fixed collar 8|,

through which the handle shaft 44 projects for rotation, has a beveled outer face 82 normal to the axis ab, .and, of course, parallel to the beveled inner face 83 provided on the handle.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of our invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

We claim:

1. Latch mechanism for a door of a vehicle body, said door being mounted for swinging move ment to and from closed position and adapted to have movably mounted therein a window pane with a portion of the path of movement of one of its edges in close proximity to a portion of the free vertical edge wall of the door, said mechanism comprising a spring-tensioned latch bolt element mounted for swinging movement in a from the free vertical edge wall of the door than said handle shaft and operatively associated with said bolt element, a slide reciprocable in a plane parallel to the roll-back adjacent the inner face of the door and operatively connected with said roll-back to transmit rotary movement thereto in the reciprocation of said slide, means operable by rotary movement of the handle shaft to reciprocate said slide, another slide reciprocable in a plane parallel to the first slide to and from a position blocking turning of the roll-back, and inside operated means for reciprocating the second slide.

2. A latch mechanism as set forth in claim 1. wherein the second slide includes a projection arranged to be moved into the path of retractin movement of said latch bolt element when said slide is moved to blocking relation to the rollback, whereby said slide is arranged to be kicked out of blocking position when the door is slammed. said latch mechanism including a leaf spring frictionally engaging an edge portion of said second slide to resist lineal movement thereof in either direction, whereby to hold said second slide releasably in adjusted position.

3. A latch mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein the second slide includes a projection arranged to be moved into the path of retracting movement of said latch bolt element when said slide is moved to blocking relation to the rollback, whereby said slide is arranged to be kicked out of blocking position when the door is slammed, said latch mechanism including a leaf spring having a bent end portion engaging a'shoulder awasss defined on the edge portion of said slide normally to hold the slide releasably in retracted position relative to said roll-back, the bent end portion of said sprin frictionally resisting lineal movement of the slide by engagement with said edge portion in the operative position of. said slide.

4. A door latch mechanism comprising a vertically oscillatable latching element spring pressed to move downwardly, an outside operable springtensioned roll-back operatively associated with a lateral projection on said latching element for direct engagement therebeneath, a support on which said roll-back is pivotally mounted, said roll-back having an extension, an inside operated reciprocable link member having an operating connection with said extension arranged to turn said roll-back by rearward movement of said link, a 'reciprocable slide guided in part on the rollback pivot and in part on said support and having two projections, one of which is arranged to block the roll-back by engagement with said extension in the blocking position of said slide, and the other of which in the blocking position of the slide is disposed in the path of movement of the projection on the latching element, whereby said slide will be automatically kicked back to an out-ofthe-way position if disposed in blocking position when the door is slammed, and inside operated means for moving the slide to and from blocking position.

5. In a latch mechanism for swinging closure, a spring tensioned latch bolt element mounted for swinging movement relative to the outer edge portion of the closure in a plane substantially parallel to the edge face and having a portion arranged to cooperate with a striker to latch the closure in a closed position, a member pivotally supported for swinging movement in a plane transverse to the plane of the edge 'face of the closure and operativelv associated with a bolt to retract the latter, an outside operated handle arranged to turn a shaft disposed substantially perpendicular to said member and in vertically spaced relation thereto, a slide having a projection operatively engaging a portion of said member to turn the same upon reciprocatory movement of said slide and guided in part on the pivot of said member and extending therefrom toward said shaft, a cam slidably engaging said slide and rotatable with said shaft, and inside operable means for blocking turning of said member.

6. Latch mechanism for a door of a vehicle body, said door being mounted for'swinging movement to and from closed position, said mechanism comprising a spring-tensioned latch bolt element mounted for swinging movement in a substantially vertical plane toward and away from latching position, an outside-operated handle for said door arranged to turn a shaft, a rotary roll-back rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis and operatively associated with said bolt element, a slide reciprocable in a plane parallel to the rollback and operatively connected with said rollback to transmit rotary movement thereto in the reciprocation of said slide, means operable by rotary movement of the handle shaft to reciprocate said slide, another slide reciprocable in a plane parallel to the first slide to and from a position blocking turning of the roll-back, and inside operated means for reciprocating the second slide.

7. A latch mechanism as set forth in claim 6, wherein the second slide includes a projection arranged to be moved into the path of retracting movement of said latch bolt element when said slide is moved to blocking relation to the rollback, whereby said slide is arranged to be kicked out of blocking position when the door is slammed, said latch mechanism including a leaf spring fric tionally engaging an edge portion of said second slide to resist lineal movement thereof in either direction, whereby to hold said second slide releasably in adjusted position.

8. A latch mechanism as set forth in claim 6, wherein the second slide includes a projection arranged to be moved intothe path of retracting movement of said latch bolt element when said slide is moved to blocking relation to the rollback, whereby said slide is arranged to be kicked out of blocking position when the door is slammed, said latch mechanism including a leaf spring having a bent end portion engaging a shoulder defined on the edge portion of said slide normally to hold the slide releasably in retracted position relative to said roll-back, the bent end portion of said spring frictionally resisting lineal movement of the slide by engagement with said edge portion in the operative position of said slide.

9. A latch mechanism as set forth in claim 5, wherein the last mentioned means comprises another slide reciprocable in a plane parallel to the first slide to and from a position blocking turning of the pivotal member, the second slide including a projection arranged to be moved into the path of retracting movement of said latch bolt element when said slide is moved to blocking relation to the pivotal member, whereby said slide may be kicked out of blocking position when the door is slammed.

WILLIAM J. TIERNEY. CLETUS L. HARMON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,670,430 Alexander May 22, 1928 1,923,688 Rightmyer Aug. 22, 1933 2,075,829 Ottinger Apr. 6, 1937 2,100,622 Adams Nov. 30, 1937 2,173,131 Ottinger Sept. 19, 1939 2,198,549 Marple Apr. 23, 1940 2,256,909 Rightmyer Sept. 23, 1941 2,259,670 Van Voorhees Oct. 21, 1941 2,274,362 Devereaux Feb. 24, 1942 2,307,674 Greig Jan. 5, 1943 2,329,232 Van Voorhees Sept. 14, 1943 

